Our Image – A Raw Deal from Our Govt!

By Dr. Alamgir Hussain

E-mail : malamgirm@yahoo.com
 

Much has been said, too many invectives have been hurled, unlimited anger has been expressed and protests have been lodged in regard to the recent FEER piece ‘Cocoon of Terror’ on Bangladesh. In this jingoistic and bullying war of words, Bangladesh citizenry from all spheres of life including a street man, leading thinkers and columnists and of course our judicious Govt, have participated in their loudest tone in unison which was to safeguard the image of our much-loved country. Of course, certain political outfits have come out in outright support of FEER which is just because of their vested and despicable political interest. I don’t wish to discount those few voices who have expressed concern and sought an appropriate look into the allegations. The truth is we didn’t stop short of taking FEER to court for defamation which has generally been appreciated to be the best effort to withhold the secular and moderate image of our country.

By the time the heat of the above controversy had hardly cooled down, our beloved country once again ran into another scandal of being accused by the Danish Govt for attempts for corruption by the incumbent shipping minister, first one of its nature. And our very responsible Govt once again came out to protect the ‘non-corrupt’ image of the country by challenging the Danish Govt to prove their allegation, and served letters of protest (show-cause notice??). Certain members of the public also came in support of the Govt and even advocated to chuck the Danes out of the country and advising the Govt to do away with foreign aid.

Well done the great people and Govt of our great nation – a truly brave nation. We have shown amazing bravery that most nations on this earth will not dare. But the truth of the matter is that howsoever brave we be, we can’t afford to live in this present-day world outside its fold. We have seen how the Taliban’s Afghanistan has fallen and we will how Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is going to fall. And the fact is whatever efforts our Govt has made to safeguard country’s image has only plunged the image of our country into showy spot of darkness to the outside world. Bangladesh’s image has already touched rock-bottom to outside world with shameful headlines in world-press one after another in recent times. First came the Transparency International report labelling Bangladesh as the most corrupt which our the- then AL Govt utterly rejected when a pledge to fight corruption was warranted. Then we made headlines again with unleashed atrocities against minorities and their mass exodus across the border during post-election period which still continues to a great extent. The worst Human Right Group report and the unspeakable law and order situation in the country to name a few more. It’s hardly been any secret what kind of street support Osama and the Taliban had attracted during the America-lead Afghan war - we will be naïve if we think world (their missions in Dhaka) hasn’t observed us during those days. And the latest is the FEER piece and the Danish Govt’s withdrawal of grants on graft charges. The way our democratic Govt has rejected these allegations by outright banning, challenging and serving show-cause notices without any look into them clearly reflects total absence of democratic norms and decorum in a supposedly democratic country. The current scenario in Bangladesh can, with good fairness, be compared with what’s going in Zimbabwe with atrocities on racial minorities, brutal suppression and oppression of the opposition and total disrespect for international opinion.

With country’s image touching the nadir in recent times, I think the recent FEER and Danish allegations could have been great opportunities to enhance our image on international scene had our Govt been judicious enough. These allegations, although slanderous for valid reasons or not, could come as blessings in disguise and improve country’s image and credibility to the world if we could address them in appropriate context by initiating proper investigations instead of vociferous rejections and challenging the respective authorities. Calling an investigation would immediately have given a credible democratic image to our country and if we could come clean after a thorough investigation, our image could improve to a great extent. Even if we couldn’t come out clean, we could step up actions against those militant elements and/or corrupt individuals/authorities and that, in itself, could give a great leap in the Govt’s image for showing sincerity to fight bad elements in the country. Now whatsoever stand being taken by the Govt has only put the country into a shadowy spot: the world will only wonder if we are a ‘real cocoon of terror’ and a corrupt nation! Neither can we disprove those allegations nor can we show our sincerity and willingness to fight those evil elements – which either way could put our country’s image at a brighter spot. With bottom-ranking in corruption, donor countries are already reluctant to throw aid into Bangladesh. America is attaching condition of fighting corruption with any aid. And with the recent battering of our nation’s democratic, secular and humanistic image, I should say these were two great opportunities unknowingly given to our Govt and had they been judicious enough, they could cash-in on them to make some amends of its recent failures and misdeeds.

With the Govt’s stand whatsoever, the country can now face severe consequences. There have been calls in Denmark for withdrawal of its diplomatic mission from Dhaka on the ground of hostile and uncivilized attitude of our Govt and diplomatic failure which left the Danes red-faced. I hope it just doesn’t happen but if it really does, there could follow pull out of other Nordic countries from Dhaka and consequences are already understandable. The Nordic nations on earth have established one of the finest democracy based on transparency, human values etc. and these are the nations who have created a culture of truthfulness to its ultimate best which the whole world knows. It must have been a great embarrassment for Danish Govt of being accused of lying and the whole civilized western world is not going to take such an action of our Govt so kindly. Hence the whole episode could only lead our country towards increasing isolation like Zimbabwe and it may bring extreme miseries to the people.

The irony of the matter is that our Govt is now planning to do away with Western aid and wishing to focus on national resources and Asian aid like from Japan, China etc. The former is a good move but about the latter, we have to realise that the benevolent Japanese Govt is already unwilling to deliver the aid to our Govt’s hand because of misuse and mishandling. The reality is that doing away with foreign aid is just impossible (Govt is already failing to pay salaries of civil servants properly) in a country with reinless corruption in every sphere, sparse talents and virtually no infrastructure and industrial development and Govt’s optimism of continual supply of aid from Asian countries is just immature. If corruption, human rights violation and any incidences of militant activities keep going on (bombs have popped up on and off in recent years), these neighbours can also choose to withdraw assistance to our country. We must mind that Japan and China are strong allies in America’s fight against terrorism and one must wonder how they are taking Govt’s total reluctance to look into FEER allegations.

The fact of the matter is it is not too late for our Govt to act and redeem some of our dusted image which is only good not only for the people but also for the Govt in a longer-term consideration. Although Govt’s angry and vociferous rejections of the allegations might have gone down well with the people, without any doubt such stand of the Govt has only tarnished the image of the country to the outside world. It’s no fault of the gullible and innocent people of the country since they are easily likely to be influenced by such jingoistic bully of our Govt in the name of country’s image. I don’t wish to offend our people labelling them ‘gullible’ but the way most of them are willing to bet their lives in the name of our political leaderships (AL/BNP), whose activities don’t qualify to be nothing better than despicable, says it all. It is Govt’s responsibility to handle issues of international concern in appropriate manner. The fact is the innocent and peace-loving people of our country deserve a much better image as a nation and the Govt has handed down a raw deal to us. And our people don't definitely deserve those miseries which may befall us because of the failure of our Govt. We can only hope the Govt will come out of the shell of its ego and false prestige and give a rethink to their actions regarding these controversies.

Alamgir

NB. A slightly different version of this write-up captioned ‘FEER & Danish Allegations – Opportunities Lost’ has appeared in E-desh.com.

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Published at Mukto-mona : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/5670

and NFB : http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/may/01/g01052002.htm#A1